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Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Tonight there will be more drunk drivers on the road than any other night of the year. Unfortunately there will be a lot of inexperienced drunk drivers on the road. A lot of people will have their judgement impaired and think they are perfectly capable of driving but they will be drunk. Don't drive drunk. Don’t do it. Drunk driving kills
people. Getting arrested can be costly and humiliating. It can ruin
your life. You can go to jail and loose your license. Call a cab. Although, good luck getting a cab in Nashville. Since Nashville has had a long-time policy of restricting the supply of all kinds of vehicles for hire, we do not have sufficient transportation-for-hire to meet the demand. However, it would impossible to have enough taxis, black cars, Ubers, Lyfts, Sidecars or limousines to transport all of the people who should not be driving on New Years eve.

Have a designated
driver. Pick the designated driver before you start drinking. Have a friend drive you. If at a friends house, stay the night. Use Sober Ride. Sober ride is a service of the Sheriff's office. Sober ride pick up points are (1) 2nd and Church, (2) Demonbruen near the roundabout, and (3) east Nashville at Five Points. Sober ride operates from 10PM to 2AM.

Having said all of that
however, I know that there are going to be thousands of people who will be driving tonight that will not think they are too drunk to drive but will have had a sufficient amount of
adult beverage that they could register drunk even though they don’t think
you are drunk.

I am offering this guide to help you improve your drunk
driving skills.(1) Know that you don’t have to be “drunk” to register DUI.
You do not have to be sloppy, falling down drunk to register as DUI. If you think you should not drive then
by all means don’t. See the above. Often you will not know if you are drunk or not, so
unless you know exactly how much you have had to drink and weather or
not that would constitute drunk driving, then assume you are technically
drunk. You do not have to appear intoxicated or have any of
the symptoms that we think of as “drunk” to have a Blood Alcohol Content that legally
makes you guilty of Driving Under the Influence. If you drink and you
drive you have probably driven “drunk.”(2) Track your consumption and don’t have “one for the road.” That is what
often happens. If for New Years you are having dinner with friends and you have a
pre-dinner cocktail and wine with dinner and after dinner liquore with
coffee, and a champagne toast at midnight, you might register drunk. Try to keep your alcohol consumption
to a level that falls below the BAC limit.On
occasion I like to go to Lower Broadway to listen to live music and
party. If I have 8, 12-ounce beers in a four-hour period I should have a
BAC of about .068, however if I have 9 beers in four hours that means I
have a BAC of .085 and am legally drunk. “One for the road” could put
me over the limit. Actually, I seldom have eight in a four hour period,
but it has happened.
A
female can drink less than a male and a slender person can drink less
than a heavy person. For a 115 pound female, three glasses of wine in
two hours is drunk. Don’t try to keep up with the other people in your
party. Know your limit. Skip a round. Drink slower. Some people assume
that wine is less inebriating than tequila shots. That is not so. A
12-ounce beer, 5 ounces of wine, or 1 ounces of 100 proof distilled spirits have
the same impact on an individual's BAC level.
Here
is a calculator that will give you guidance on how much alcohol you can
consume and an estimate of BAC. Please be aware that this is only a
guide. If you are drinking on an empty stomach, your BAC may be higher
than indicated in the calculator.(3) Plan your trip.
Point your car in the direction of home. Avoid places where the police might see you. When I go to the honkytonk
strip on lower Broadway to party, I never park on Broadway. I live on
the south side of town, so I park a block or two south of Broadway on
one of the one-way streets heading south. The less exposed you are to
the police the less chance you have of getting caught.(4) Be aware that you are impaired.
If you didn’t keep track of how much you drank then assume you are may
have had enough to register drunk and use your best drunk-driving
skills. "Thinking" skills, like perceiving and evaluating risks, or
processing information are not easily visible to outside observers, but
they are the first skills to be adversely affected by alcohol. Be aware
of this.(5) Stop the Party.
You are having a good time. You are joking and singing and laughing.
You hate

to end the party, but if there is any chance that you are
driving with an elevated BAC, then stop the party. Say, “OK folks, we
need to straighten up. I need your help in getting us home.” Don’t sing
or engage in distracting conversation. Turn off the radio. Don’t talk on
the cell phone. Give driving your undivided attention. Don’t let anyone
in the car have an open container. You may be perfectly capable of
driving, but if a drunk passenger is yelling "Happy New Year" out the
window, the police may stop the car and give you a drunk driving test.

(6) Check the checklist.
Have a mental checklist. You don’t want to get stopped because you
failed to use your turn signal. I was once stopped by the police on
lower Broadway and forced to take a Breathalyzer. I knew I had only had
two beers in a two-hour period so I was not concerned. The reason they
stopped is that I had not tuned on my headlights as I pulled out into
the street. The downtown area is well lit and this was just an
oversight. The police are looking for excuses to stop you; don’t give
them one. Seat belts? Check. Adjust the mirror? Check. Turn off the
radio? Check. Turn on the headlights? Check.(7) Consecrate; pay attention.
Be aware of your driving. Don’t relax. Keep both hands on the wheel.
Don’t be distracted. Don't answer the phone. If you feel you must answer the phone, safely pull off the road. Don't even engage in conversation. Make sure you do not weave. Are you staying within
the lines? Drive just below the speed limit. Don’t tailgate. Pay
attention to the car in front of you. If they put on their brakes,
notice it. If you are approaching an intersection with a traffic light,
pay close attention. Plan that traffic light stop. Don’t run a yellow
light.(8) Use your co-pilot. Ask the person in the passengers seat to help you drive. Ask them to tell you if you weave or tailgate or go too fast.(9) If you get stopped.
Unless you are certain that you have had less than the number of drinks
it would take to raise your BAC level to the .08 level, then common
wisdom holds that it is a good idea to refuse the breathalyzer test. It
generally is more difficult to convict a driver of drunk driving if no
chemical tests are taken.

I have never been arrested for drunk driving but I admit I have been
guilty of it. I guess I have been lucky. As a young adult I was more
often guilty of it than I have been as an older adult. Nevertheless,
from time to time, I still have probably technically met the blood
alcohol level for being drunk. Stay safe. Happy New Year.

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